Sunday, 8 September 2013

I know I can bang on for thousands of words about next to
nothing, and I know most people aren’t even going to read most of it so, for
once, and given that I haven’t got much to say about this topic anyway, I’m
going to keep it real short and real sweet – not like this introductory
sentence. That will be as rambly as it gets. Promise.

So, it hadn’t occurred to me to pit these two brands of gold
rum against each other before, but why not? That Bacardi Gold (37.5% ABV, from
Cuba) has been sitting around, unloved for quite some time, while the 10 Cane was a very generous birthday
present from my friend Phil. Phil’s quite keen on his expensive rums. I have to
admit, I’m not quite up to speed with that yet. I just don’t see the complexity
in rum that I see in whisky and as a result, I’ve never been compelled to spend
more than £20 on one. That could just be my failing, but don’t worry, I’m not
giving up altogether. I’m sure there are some lovely ones.

So, as I promised, I’m going to keep the comparison short.
10 Cane (40% ABV, from Trinidad) comes in a cool squared bottle and actually
has a cork instead of a screw cap. The liquid is paler than that of Bacardi
Gold, but it is the stronger of the two.

The biggest consideration however, is which tastes better.
And that’s where I struggle. There is a difference in flavour (though
not in mouthfeel), but it’s not one that’s big enough to justify the disparity
in price – just over £10 at The Whisky Exchange. Is that 2.5% alcohol worth
£10? I’m thinking… not. I don’t claim to be an expert in rum, so this might not
be the last word on the subject, but to provide you with some sort of
conclusion to this experiment I’m going to have to say… it’s a draw. I
certainly wouldn’t be buying the 10 Cane if all I wanted was a mixer, and I
probably wouldn’t buy either for sipping so I’ll just have to keep an eye out
and see if there are any gold rums out there that could force their way into my
sipping requirements.

Sunday, 1 September 2013

A couple of weeks ago I thrilled
you with tales from my Vietnamese honeymoon, one of which involved coming into
possession of a bottle of bootleg longan wine. I remember my first
impression on tasting it was that it was a bit like grappa, and I have made no
secret of the fact that I’m a big fan of the grappa - it’s not as readily
available, as varied or as complex as whisky, but I think it is probably my
second favourite spirit.

So one of the first things I thought of when I got my grubby
little mitts on that longan wine, was that I would have to do a comparative
tasting at my earliest convenience. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, weighing
in at 40% ABV and costing £48: Domenis Blanc e Neri grappa – aged 18
months, and already victorious in a contest with the budget Grappa JuliaSuperiore.

The challenger this evening is the 45% longan wine,
distilled by a guy in the Mekong Delta, presented in a plastic bottle, and
costing something like £4.70. May the classiest spirit win.

In terms of presentation there are some interesting
considerations. Blanc e Neri comes in a box, and the bottle has a plastic cork.
Any kind of cork is a good thing when it comes to spirits. With this one, there’s
no squeak on opening, but there’s a
magnificent and resounding pop. The longan wine though, is homemade. It’s
rare. I had to go all the way to Vietnam to get it. That makes it incredibly
cool in my opinion. Unfortunately it comes in a plastic bottle, which makes it
look like something you might find on the floor at a festival.

There isn’t actually that much difference in colour between
the two spirits. The grappa has been aged for 18 months, so it’s not white like
all the other grappas I’ve ever had. If there is any difference, then it is
that the grappa is very slightly deeper in colour.

I’m afraid that while I did get a brief description of how
the longan wine was made – which essentially confirmed that it was distilled –
there was no information with regard to aging. I must presume that, since newly
distilled spirit would be clear, that it has been aged – or if not aged
as such, the colour is the result of being stored.

The differences really started to come out when I got to the
nosing. Blanc e Neri is fragrant, fruity and rich while longan wine is… weird.
It’s unmistakeably east Asian, but beyond that I don’t know how to describe it.

I realised at this point, that longan wine isn’t really that
much like grappa at all, and I don’t know how I ever came to think it was. I
suppose it must have some element that led me to think that but alongside the
real thing, they are quite different.

It only took a couple of sips alongside the grappa to give
me the impression I didn’t really like the taste of the longan wine all that
much. My tasting faculties must have been acclimatised to Vietnamese flavours
while I was over there, as it has a kind of bready
flavour in contrast to the fruity tones of the grappa that I didn’t notice
initially.

Soon after the test began I found I was trying to get the
longan wine out of the way so that I could relax and settle into enjoying the
grappa so, to cut a long story short, Domenis Blanc e Neri is victorious once
again.

Thinking back now, when we were tasting the longan wine
originally, the guide and the guy who made it were knocking it back quickly,
while I’m used to eking out every last drop of flavour from whatever I’m
drinking, and now I think I know why. I could finish off the rest of my bottle
that way, but I don’t really see the point in drinking something if you don’t
want to taste it. If you didn’t want to taste your liquors, you wouldn’t get
interested in booze because the cheapest vodka at the supermarket would be
sufficient.

I thought at this point that I might be stuck with this
bottle for some time, and I’d probably end up tipping it down the sink. I had
figured that most of my friends wouldn’t be very interested in it but it goes
to show that you shouldn’t go assuming all your friends are the same. Several
were willing to give it a go and one or two even said they thought they liked
it. I took it along at one point to a meeting of the Manchester Whisky Club,
and while I didn’t honestly expect anyone to want to try it, to their credit
the general attitude was one of enthusiastic curiosity. No one was concerned
about the possible adverse health effects of drinking unregulated alcohol. What
does that tell you? I can’t say anyone actually liked it, but a number of
people were willing to give it a try. I’d like to thank everyone for that.

When I bought it I was hoping the longan wine would be a
suitable replacement for my grappa as it gradually dwindled to nothing, but while
I was wrong, I like to feel I got some good value out of it. No, I never
enjoyed it while relaxing on the sofa or in the garden, but it provided an
interesting talking point and proved good entertainment when friends came to
visit.

The high point for me actually, was when we went to a bring your own booze Vietnamese
restaurant, just north of Manchester’s city centre (Vnam). I took a couple
of large beers, as you should, but I’d been thinking hard for a few minutes
about taking a bottle of spirits with me too. We just couldn’t figure out
between us whether there is an etiquette about these things and whether it is
even allowed to take anything other than beer or wine. In the end I didn’t
bother finding out (though to be fair, I should have done that just so I could
let you know), because I remembered I had the longan wine, and it might provide
a nice accompaniment to the Vietnamese food. It actually did. I had wanted to
ask the staff at the restaurant whether they knew what it was, but my friend
Claire said I shouldn’t because I’d look like a dick. I took her advice. I was
still hoping they might notice it – honestly, you could smell it across the
restaurant when I opened it. Gav and I polished off the bottle between us and
got nicely smashed. The food was pretty awesome too.

Well, I’ll be heading to Italy towards the end of next
month, so I’ll finally get a chance to replace that bottle of grappa without
having to remortgage. I think some Italian brandy will be on the cards as well.
As ever, more on that sometime in the future.

Now, you might have noticed that it isn’t Friday. Yes, I’m
afraid I couldn’t be bothered to post on Friday night and since I am often busy
on Fridays, and less so on Sundays, I think Sunday will be my regular day from
now on. It shouldn’t matter much to you, to be fair. So! Instead of having a
great weekend, I hope you had a great
weekend and continue on to have a satisfactory week. I’ll see you next Sunday.

Definitions

What happens when you zone out after having had a cheeky lunchtime pint.

Alcothusiast:

Not an alcoholic, someone who appreciates booze.

Anxiety, The:

The uneasy feeling that accompanies any noteworthy hangover.

Booze Buffet Mentality:

The propensity people have to go nuts whenever there's a free bar.

Booze Porn:Photos of alcohol.

Bread Chest:Not booze related, but this term describes the indigestion you get from eating too many bread products too quickly. Just putting it out there...

Crawler's Block:The inability to decide where to go next during a pub crawl - often resulting in crawl stagnation and someone saying, "shall we just have another one here?"

Crawl Stagnation:The result of failing to plan a pub crawl sufficiently - lack of a route, theme or over-familiarity with nearby pubs can all be contributing factors.

Excess Induced Alcohol Aversion:An intolerance for a drink caused (usually) by one occasion of overindulgence.

The Family:My whisky collection.

MOMA:

Moment of Maximum Appreciation. Every bottle has one. It's the time you drink it where you enjoy it most.

Old Man Pub:Traditional British pub, renowned for being quiet, cosy and frequented by old men. Much favoured by people who like a nice chat while they drink.Psychological Drinks Cabinet:Collective term relating to the kinds of alcoholic drinks a person has need for.Road Beers:

Cans of beer that you take with you when you go out, to consume on the way.

The 3 Types of Rum:White, gold and dark. Together they form the base of many a great cocktail.

About Me

Neil Cake is interested in all types of booze, but is by no means an authority or expert. Most of the time he's just trying to be funny, but he is learning, and enjoys sharing his adventures and what he learns on the Drink it How You Like it blog.
Thengyuverrymuuuuuch.